University of Virginia Library

By Student Council

Wheatley Urged To Disavow Stand

By Tom Adams
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

A motion urging Chase Stuart
Wheatley to "publicly repudiate
the principles behind massive
resistance" and to resign from the
Board of Visitors should he be
"unable in good conscience" to do
so passed with only three dissenting
votes at last night's meeting of the
Student Council.

Jim Roebuck presented the
motion because of publicity in the
"Richmond press" that made the
failure of two similar motions at
last week's Council meeting appear
as a vote of confidence in Mr.
Wheatley, he said.

Unlike last week's meeting of
the Council, discussion on this
motion was short and only Tom
Slater, Charles Majors, and the new
Student Council representative
from the School of Medicine, Sam
Robinson, voted against it.

Prior to the vote on that motion
Larry Fortune, a junior at Lane
High School and a member of
Lane's Student Human Relations
Committee presented a letter in
which he called Mr. Wheatley a
"piggish symbol of racism."

He commended the students of
the University for making a "first
move" to end racism, although he
said that it was "pretty weak. The
fact that this man is a member of
the University's power structure,"
he said, "is an insult to black
students." He said he was
"dumbfounded" over the Student
Council's support of the 11-point
coalition program to end racism
and its refusal to demand the
resignation of Mr. Wheatley.

"Until Virginia changes its
hypocritical policy, we will be
highly doubtful of its desire to
accept black students," Mr.
Fortune said.

Twice during his speech to the
Council he warned "either move
this man off the Board of Visitors
or the black people will move in."
This statement brought applause
from the audience of about 40
persons who attended the meeting
in the Ballroom of Newcomb Hall.

In other business, another
motion by Mr. Roebuck, urging
that the University Band and radio
station WUVA abandon their
practice of playing "Dixie" passed
with five dissenting votes.

Mr. Roebuck pointed out that
while the words of the song were
not offensive, what the song
symbolizes is offensive to many
black students.

Walker Chandler said that
"Dixie is an obvious affront to the
Black citizens of the state." To that
he added that "Dixie" is "a
remnant of a redneck society that
refuses to die in spite of the
number of times it's been kicked."

Rick Evans spoke in favor of the
motion, saying that the motion was
"long overdue, especially in light of
Mr. Cullen's recent column in the
CD."

Sam Robinson objected to the
motion. He said that the words to
"Dixie have no racial overtones."
Tony Sherman said that Mr.
Robinson was not qualified to
judge whether or not the song had
racial overtones. Only Messrs.
Campbell, Collins, Kurtz, Robinson,
and Slater voted against the
motion, which passed 13-5.

Kevin Mannix presented a
motion asking that a committee be
formed to investigate the finances
of the PK and German Dance
Societies and the University Union.
These groups sponsor most of the
concerts at the University on party
weekends.

Mr. Mannix explained that he
presented the motion to find out
why so many concerts this year
have not run smoothly.

Joe Floravanti, president of the
PK Dance Society, the subject of an
editorial in yesterday's issue of The
Cavalier Daily regarding weekend
concerts, replied that the writer did
not understand the problems
involved.

George Shipley, president of the
University Union, said he welcomed
the investigation because it gave the
Union a chance to explain some of
these problems to students.

The motion, however was
defeated.

Two proposed amendments to
the bylaws of the Student Council
Constitution were presented a last
night's meeting.

The first one was presented by
Kevin Mannix. It asked that
residence requirements for running
for Student Council be dropped,
allowing first and second-year
students to run. He said that this
amendment would help in graduate
schools where it is difficult to find
candidates.

A motion was made to table Mr.
Mannix's motion until the next
meeting of the Council. The vote
was tied 10 to 10, but Ron
Hickman broke the tie by voting to
table the motion.

The second change in the
bylaws was presented by Rick
Evans. He asked that "all new
business be submitted to the
Council in written form. New
business must be tabled for one
week. All new business will be
brought off the table automatically
one week after its presentation to
the Student Council. This rule may
be waived for a particular motion
by a two-thirds vote of the Council
to which the motion is presented."

This was amended to allow the
Council to take immediate action
on new business by only a majority
approval. The motion, as amended,
then received the necessary
two-thirds vote, 16 to 4.

Following the Student Council
meeting, a closed meeting of the
Council was held to discuss
procedural changes that would
make that body more effective.